1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic networks, and relates more particularly to a system and method for incrementally updating remote element lists in an electronic network.
2. Description of the Background Art
Implementing an efficient and effective method for managing and controlling communications between electronic devices in an electronic network is a significant consideration for system designers, manufacturers, and users of contemporary electronic devices An electronic device in a distributed electronic network may advantageously communicate with other remote electronic devices in the network to share and substantially increase the resources available to individual devices in the network. For example, an electronic network may be implemented in a user""s home to enable flexible and beneficial sharing of resources between various consumer electronic devices, such as personal computers, digital video disk devices, digital set-top boxes for digital broadcasting, television sets, and audio playback systems.
Managing and controlling efficient communications in a network of electronic devices may create substantial challenges for designers and manufacturers of electronic networks. For example, enhanced design demands for increasing functionality and performance many require more system processing power and require additional hardware resources over the network. An increase in processing or hardware requirements also typically results in a corresponding detrimental economic impact from increased production costs and operational inefficiencies.
Network size and device functionality are also factors that affect the control and management of an electronic network. Communications in an electronic network typically become more complex as the number of individual devices or nodes increases. For example, a local software element on a given network device may need to communicate with various remote software elements on remote devices on the network. However, successfully managing a substantial number of electronic devices on a single network may provide significant benefits to a system user. Furthermore, enhanced device capability to perform various advanced functions may provide additional benefit to a system user, but may also place increased demands on the control and management of various devices in the electronic network. For example, an electronic network that effectively accesses, processes, and displays digital television programming may benefit from efficient network management techniques because of the large amount and complexity of the digital data involved.
In addition, periodically altering the configuration of an electronic network by a system user may present a need for creating transparent and efficient techniques to manage the addition or removal of electronic devices in the network. For example, if a new electronic device is added to the network, then the other electronic devices in the network may require notification of the existence and capabilities of the newly-added device, so that all electronic devices in the network may advantageously utilize resources from the newly-added electronic device.
Therefore, for all the foregoing reasons, implementing an efficient and effective method for managing communications between various electronic devices in a distributed electronic network remains a significant consideration for designers, manufacturers, and users of electronic devices.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are disclosed for incrementally updating remote element lists in an electronic network. In one embodiment of the invention, initially, a network bus triggers a bus reset in response to the occurrence of an event on the electronic network. For example, the event may include a removed device event in which an existing device is removed from the electronic network. The event may also include an added device event in which a new device is added to the electronic network.
In response to the bus reset on the network bus, a communication media manager (CMM) preferably sends a bus change event message to an event manager via a messaging system. The bus change event message preferably includes information to specify whether the event is a removed device event or an added device event. The event manager preferably permits other software elements in the network software to subscribe for immediate notification whenever certain specified events occur in the electronic network.
In one embodiment, each device-control module (DCM) manager in the network always subscribes for prompt notification of any bus change event from the corresponding local event manager, so that the DCM managers may then conduct a negotiation process for determining an appropriate host device for the newly-added device on the electronic network. Therefore, in response to the bus change event message received from the CMM, the event manager transmits an event notification message to the DCM manager through the messaging system.
The DCM manager then preferably extracts the content of the event notification message to responsively generate a bus change analysis result, and also processes the event based on the type of event (removed device event or added device event). In addition to normal processing (including the device hosting negotiations), the DCM manager also advantageously provides the bus change analysis result to a local registry via a private (non-standardized format) message, in accordance with the present invention.
The registry responsively utilizes the bus change analysis result to produce an updated remote registry list that reflects the recent change in the electronic network. The present invention may similarly update remote element lists for other software elements in network software. For example, in one embodiment, the DCM manager also provides the bus change analysis result to the event manager which responsively produces an updated remote event manager list that reflects the recent change in the electronic network. Any software element in the network software may thus optionally post an event on a local event manager to globally notify remote software elements through corresponding remote event mangers. The present invention thus effectively and efficiently updates incremental remote element lists in an electronic network.